白斩鸡 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

báizhǎnjī

poached chicken

bái, bai white

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (8 of 15 verified)

百怕伯迫拍帕柏泊舶魄珀帛粕铂樂

Meaning (2 of 13 verified)

的珀皓皖皑皋皙皎皤皅皦皒皚

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	baek	bˤrak	white

說文解字

《說文》：“白，西方色也。陰用事，物色白。从入合二。二，陰數。，古文白。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.625漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zhǎn, zhàn chop Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the sound and 斤 represents the meaning. Simplified from 斬.

Components

车 Sound component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

斩 and 车 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
斩 tsreamX
车 tsyhae

斤 Meaning component

jīn axe

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

渐暂惭崭堑錾椠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

jī chickens Simplified

Simplified from a variant form of the traditional character 雞.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand form of the 奚 component in the traditional character 雞.

鸟 Meaning component

niǎo bird

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

chop Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the sound and 斤 represents the meaning.

Components

車 Sound component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

斬 and 車 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
斬 tsreamX
車 tsyhae

斤 Meaning component

jīn axe

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

嶄慚漸塹暫

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsreamX	[ts]ramʔ	cut off

說文解字

《說文》：“斬，也。从車，从斤。斬法車裂也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

jī chicken Traditional

Originally was a pictograph of a chicken. Later changed to a phonosemantic compound of 奚 and 隹 (bird).

Components

奚 Sound component

xī where? what? how? why?

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kej	kˤe	fowl, chicken

說文解字

《說文》：“雞，知時畜也。从隹，奚聲。鷄，籀文雞从鳥。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)